A variety of overlays exist to mask individual promotional materials, including single lottery tickets, prior to a specific event such as purchase of the tickets. U.S. Pat. No. 3,512,780, for example, discloses a three-panel coupon blank folded twice and adhered to conceal between first and second panels a single puzzle piece contained on the third panel. The piece may be revealed by tearing interconnecting lines of weakness formed parallel to three edges of each panel and then unfolding the blank along the fold line which forms a common edge of the first and second panels. Only then may the piece be removed from the blank by tearing its surrounding lines of weakness.
British Patent Specification No. 1,459,343 discloses a paper article having upper and lower sections adhered at their peripheries, the upper section of which includes lines of weakness defining a single, multi-panel lottery ticket. Information printed on the face of the ticket adjacent the lower section is concealed until the ticket is removed by tearing the upper section along the lines of weakness. Rather than being scored (perforated), however, at least one edge of each panel must remain connected to a corresponding edge of an adjacent panel or panels. The unscored lower section, moreover, remains intact during the ticket removal process.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,788,153, commonly assigned to Dittler Brothers, Incorporated, illustrates in FIGS. 29-32 a single, three-panel promotional article in which initially non-adjacent first and third panels contain scored, separately removable sections. The scored sections overlay one another when the article is folded and, when removed, (ultimately) reveal concealed information or indicia contained on the second panel. The second panel contains no lines of weakness, however, and is designed to remain intact even after the concealed information is revealed.